Tag Archives: video

When looking to strike a chord with millennials and Generation Z, six-second advertisements lead the way.

A new form of video storytelling has hit the market. With lower attention spans and increased usage of mobile devices across multiple generations, six-seconds advertisements are the solution.

As brands and agencies prepare for this new era, these six-second video advertisements convey simple messages making immediate connections with viewers. There is a niche gap in the market for six-second media engagements and brands have begun to fill that void.

Although these advertisements were first introduced by YouTube as, “bumper ads,” several corporations have joined the movement utilizing the format. Fox began pushing out six-second advertisements during live sporting events, announcing that they will air nine of these short spots during its Thanksgiving Day NFL game. Prior to this announcement, Fox had been running six-second commercials in NFL games and the World Series. Similarly, AMC has decided to run six-second commercials during this season of the series, The Walking Dead. Facebook has also followed suit, announcing intentions to revamp six-second advertisements on its platform.

Even Twitter wants to join the six-second ad craze. In an effort to produce these short spots, they created, #Fuel. This new service is designed to help advertisers create content specifically for the platform as well as edit videos to conform to the six-second trend.

While six-second advertisements are a fairly new format, they have certainly left an impression already. According to a Google-led study, nine out of 10 six-second advertisements drove recall and 61 percent increased brand awareness.

Viewers want entertainment, innovation and disruption, and six-second spots seamlessly fit the mold. While advertisers continuously look to improve the viewing experience, adding celebrity features as another layer to the mix could be just what they need.

While six-second spots are defining digital presence, celebrities and influencers have already marked their territory in the digital sphere. Because celebrity marketing dominates digital, this “snackable content” elicits a new opportunity for brands to enhance this innovative format. Shorter advertisements certainly engage viewers, but celebrities have the potential to make these spots unforgettable. The combination of powerful celebrity marketing and the allure of six-second advertisements can lead to competitive advantages.

Getting right to the point, six-second advertisements keep viewers tuned in, especially millennials and Generation Z consumers with shorter attention spans. These short spots have the potential to command the digital sphere and further evolve with the inclusion of celebrities and influencers.

When it comes to sporting events, celebrities and social media are the major players driving social engagement before, during, and after the game.

The impact of celebrities on audience engagement at sporting events is real. The impact of social media on audience engagement is just as real. Combined, these two influential forces and sporting events become one dynamite hotspot for brands to connect with fans.

Linking popular marketing campaigns to high-profile sporting events is not a new idea. However, the rise of social media adds a valuable, new element to the marketing mix. When social platforms work hand-in-hand with celebrity marketing campaigns featured at major sporting events, audience engagement will increase.

Brands that are able to generate creative and compelling videos can drive social engagement surrounding sporting events. Using the power of social media, these videos may become viral and generate buzz around the event. Similarly, brands featuring celebrities within their marketing campaigns at sporting events can achieve higher levels of engagement.

Beyond simply creating buzz, well-known sports teams and their social channels have found a way to engage with sports fans during the actual event.

A few professional sports teams have figured out how to draw attention away from personal phone screens and attract fans to the only screen that matters, the jumbotron. The Philadelphia Eagles, Seattle Sounders and San Francisco Giants use technology powered by Tagboard that shows their Instagram stories on massive displays inside the stadium. These teams have found the way to grow their social media followings and also keep the focus on the field.

Combining celebrity title with social media, these sports teams engage fans, while still promoting their brand. As teams recognize this potential for branding, they discover ways to monetize content.

In addition, these massive displays take fan engagement another step further by featuring user-generated content. This keeps fans involved in the action on the field, while simultaneously becoming the focus of the screen. Furthermore, Tagboard created a tool that makes it easier to search content across keyboards, phrases, accounts and hashtags.

Tagboard has put a new spin on advertising during sporting events. Brands that want to get a leg up and connect with sports fans must recognize the influence of celebrity marketing and in turn, create captivating video content for social media platforms that will get fans involved.

Video advertisements are the hottest trend in grabbing consumers’ attention.

Celebrity marketing is powerful. Social media is powerful, and the newest power tool in the mix is video content. Video content is viewed on more devices and in more places than ever before. When these three platforms are combined, the possibilities and opportunities are endless.

Several social media channels, such as Facebook, Reddit, Snapchat and Twitter, are eager to increase usage and snatch a larger portion of digital video ad revenues. To achieve greater audience attention, social platforms are diving deep into the digital video advertising sphere. These platforms are adapting to the popularity growth spurt of video and repositioning themselves to better attract consumers.

More specifically, videos of celebrity endorsements can bring big revenue to those video advertisements and the social platforms that host them.

For example, Facebook has not always been thought of as the go-to place to watch a show. But, with the ever-changing times, Facebook is changing their tune by offering programming and a new video platform, Watch. Arranged by what Facebook users’ friends and communities are watching, the Watch platform allows video creators to release their episodes in an organized fashion while also engaging viewers in conversation.

Along with the Watch platform, Facebook is diving further into the digital sphere with its attempt at earning digital video advertising revenue. To do so, Facebook is selling in-stream-only video advertisements. These advertisements will appear only in videos that people watch on its network or across its ad network of third-party sites and apps.

Similarly, Reddit is paying more attention to the power of video on its platform. Making video an essential component, Reddit launched its first household video experience. Users will no longer be redirected to YouTube to share videos. Rather, users will be able to upload videos directly to the Reddit website. Without skipping a beat, Reddit now exposes users to auto-play video advertisements.

Meanwhile, Snapchat’s entire foundation features creative and short video content, which instantly grabs the attention of younger consumers. Although it is a unique format, its network provides marketers with immense potential for video ad revenue.

Twitter is another social channel trying to make video a core part of its platform, incorporating live and event-driven video content on its feed. In addition, Twitter delivers advertisements throughout these showings, targeting their audience in an engaged setting and opening the door for more video ad revenue.

To promote brands and foster strong relationships with millennials, esports is the go-to industry to reach millennials.

To keep brands relevant in an age of overstimulated millennials glued to their screens, think gaming. While marketers use celebrities and digital influencers to reach consumers, they have overlooked one very important group of influencers: gamers.

With such a strong following, brands should utilize the reach of these gaming influencers as a way to attract more millennials.

Although esports originated in social media, it has pushed past its initial YouTube platform and jumped into major venues like Madison Square Garden and Key Arena, drawing in thousands of viewers and attendees.

As the gaming industry continues to grow in popularity, brands need to recognize the endless opportunities of partnering with gamers.

In pursuit of this fast-rising sport, a few brands have caught on to the gaming phenomenon.

For example, Snickers used the esports social platform creatively to reach their audience. Snickers partnered with three gamers with large social followings to transform its “You’re Not You When You’re Hungry” campaign into a live broadcast prank. Gamers began to play horribly because they were hungry, and the hungrier they became, the worse they played. It was not until they ate a Snickers bar that each gamer reverted back to their legendary gaming selves. The prank proved noteworthy as viewers went crazy with live-commenting throughout the prank.

Similarly, Coke was able to tap into the trend and feed fan excitement. Coke encouraged fans to get involved by handing out “cheer boards” for fans to write on during the gaming event. And if fans could not make the big event, Coke had a solution: host viewing parties. For instance, Coke created a nationwide viewing party of the League of Legends World Championship at L.A.’s Staples Center to over 200 movie screens across the United States.

Because esports is a developing platform, marketers must step outside their comfort zone. Risks are necessary, so take that risk by tapping into the powers of gaming influencers. In turn, brands will find success in reaching the much desired millennial consumer.

Pairing a powerful celebrity with an innovative concept provides the opportunity for brands to catapult themselves into the forefront of culture. In an increasingly digital world, the climate is perfect for brands to match celebrities with clever content and go viral, reaching millions of people through shares and retweets. Campaigns go viral because of the celebrities they feature. Consumers are drawn to interesting, funny, inspiring and captivating video ads that include people that they know and can relate to. Here are three elements of viral celebrity marketing campaigns.

Entertainment Value

Making a campaign entertaining by putting a celebrity in an interesting situation is what makes ads authentic and enjoyable. It allows the brand to integrate with the content rather than being a tack on. This is what blends the brand with the celebrity and message fluidly, without making it seem too promotional.

Nike’s series of ads with Kevin Hart achieved great popularity. The ads were able to entertain consumers and hold their interest because they told an interesting story. Being released right at the New Year when people set goals to work out, the brand had perfect timing using an adored celebrity to position their brand and product at the center of that cultural moment.

Cost Effective

Producing video ads can be costly, but placing ads at the right time and place is often extremely expensive. When a celebrity marketing campaign is positioned in the right environment for success the ad can go viral, garnering millions of views simply from initial placement on the brand’s social channels.

Apple music’s partnership with Drake and Taylor Swift is a great example of how taking a loved celebrity, a relatable situation and combining it with a funny execution makes a brand the center of social media. These ads had millions of views within hours of their release. The virality of the ads allowed a larger reach for a much lower cost than an alternative medium.

Leverage From Social Media

Content recommended by friends has extra pull for consumers. They are more likely to trust, buy into, and like messages shared by friends than those placed by brands. Viral videos passed along through social channels from one user to the next have more credibility. Brands benefit when their celebrity marketing campaigns are those being shared.

KitKat created the perfect circumstance to become a cultural phenomenon with their campaign featuring Chance the Rapper. By partnering with a well known celebrity across their target demographic and creating an interesting ad, they reached a vast amount of people in a meaningful way.

By making an authentically interesting ad based around a celebrity, a brand creates an opportunity for themselves to become a cultural icon.

With the niche approach that digital influencers bring to their global platform, it is clear that the definition of “mainstream celebrity” has changed.

Especially for millennials and Gen Zers.

Variety Magazine conducted a side by side study that compared the positive Q-scores of top traditional and digital stars, a score that utilizes celebrity familiarity to further show respondent’s “favorite personalities”. Unfortunately, among all respondents, digital influencers still continue to be no match in the awareness category to upper echelon Hollywood starlets.

For digital influencers, overall awareness does not have to be an immediate goal. What matters most is the segment that they resonate with the most: age groups 6-12, 9-14, and 13-24 year olds. The non-traditional content that digital influencers produce attracts these young media message skeptics, plain and simple.

This group had an appeal to their youngest viewers that their overall Q-score doesn’t exactly reflect. What is clear by the Q-scores, is that those that are familiar with these digital influencers also consider them to be their favorite personalities and for many of these top influencers, they are equal to some well-known traditional celebrities. There are several digital celebrities that are finally reaching the same positive feedback as critically acclaimed actors such as Brie Larson and Jeremy Renner.

Unfortunately, a truly precise way to measure the effectiveness of digital influencer brand interaction is still in its infancy. As the industry climate shifted away from a traditional approach, we took a deeper look at the influencers that paved the way as a new breed of celebrity.

Based on the Variety Magazine study, here is a current list of 2016’s top six digital influencers who continue to use YouTube to leverage their brand image across multiple channels:

Pentatonix: This five-member a cappella got their break on NBC’s The Sing-Off, which awarded them a recording deal with Sony Music. The group has amassed 14.5 million YouTube subscribers by covering iconic songs and adding their own unique flare that appeals to a younger audience. Riding off their victory at this year’s Grammys, Pentatonix is one of the most desired influencer groups for brands that want to portray youth and vibrance.

Ryan Higa: This 26 year old comedian began his career as lip-synching YouTuber in high school. After experiencing difficulty with copyright issues, Higa has been able to transform his brand, owning an impressive 20 million YouTube subscribers. Now Higa spends most of his time in the parody K-pop band Boys Generally Asian, a group headlined by YouTube’s five most influential Asian YouTubers.

Bethany Mota: This lifestyle vlogger loves to show off her fashion purchases and has been doing so via YouTube since she was just 19. Since then, Mota has started her own perfume and clothing line at Aeropostale, essentially saving the brand from extinction. Recently Mota broke the coveted 10 million subscriber threshold, unconventionally positioning her as a dominant force in the fashion market.

Please stay tuned for influencers 4-6, as these three have a knack for comedy that allows users to feel heightened connection to the content they create.

Periscope may be reborn, but Facebook Live will thrive in 2018.

There is no doubting that Facebook Live remains at the forefront of live streaming content for celebrity marketing entering 2018. Thanks to its user familiarity and instant audience connection, Facebook Live has had the luxury of paying 140 media groups and celebrities a total of $50 million to produce live content.

An overwhelming 78% of businesses that use Facebook Live claim that it was an effective marketing tool in 2017.

Moving forward into 2018, Twitter’s live stream extension Periscope has implemented 360 degree video technology that allows a broadcaster to go live and share their entire environment, making the broadcast as immersive as possible. CES’ Hardware Battlefield has already used Periscope 360 to expose their series of events to their 8.3 million following on Twitter. Now considering the Periscope feature is synced with Twitter in a single app, Periscopemay possess a threat to Facebook Live.

Brands such as Airbnb, have taken to Periscope 360, allowing to provide potential users a fully immersive experience to a foreign country. The video attracted 455,000 views in a single day. Twitter astoundingly attracted a record 6.8 million viewers for the inauguration via Periscope, but the avenue has yet to reveal the effectiveness with celebrity marketing.

Currently Periscope has 1.9 million daily active users, which is astounding. Yet, when compared to the clout of Facebook’s 1 billion daily users, Periscope is simply dwarfed.

YouTube Live poses more of a threat to Facebook and Instagram Live. Its 30 million daily users will make it a major player, and its position on the cusp of digital innovation means that millennials and future generations will continue to cut the cord and expand its user base.

Facebook’s size should not discredit the capabilities of Periscope and YouTube Live, as they are extremely viable options for a current business. Yet, the challengers must present themselves as user friendly as possible to compete.

To Periscope’s credit, the tool presents itself as business and brand friendly. The live streaming tool enables brands to create a community with how-to videos, allowing those brands to share industry news, mailing lists, and product demos. Periscope is ideal for celebrity branding, but it simply isn’t used at the rate Facebook Live is.

According to a Socialbakers finding, media, celebrity, and brand’s “official pages” have shown preference to Facebook Live over Periscope.

Of the top 500 celebrity accounts on Facebook and Twitter, celebrities are opting to use Facebook Live at a 40% higher rate than the Periscope tool.

33% of companies were using Periscope compared to Facebook Live, but by the end of the year, preference had shifted to 47% preferring Facebook Live to Periscope.

Ultimately, Facebook is proving itself as an unstoppable live streaming force, due to its size and accessibility. Periscope may possess unique business features to effectively track celebrity engagement, but currently the comfortability of Facebook Live will help the platform remain in its own live streaming class for celebrity marketers, but don’t count out YouTube’s ability to challenge and become another giant in the field.

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I'm Bob Williams, CEO| Speaker | Author of The Brand Agent

The Brand Agent provides resources on how to build brands through celebrities, music and sports.

Celebrity marketing requires special knowledge and skills. My articles are intended to help save you time, money and frustration.

Over my career, I have led in negotiating thousands of celebrity contracts and helped match small and large brands with the right celebrity. I’m glad to share my celebrity marketing expertise with you.